The Sorceress of Ny
by Bill K
Summary: The Wizard of Oz as a Sailor Moon story; Sailor Moon and Luna must navigate a strange land and find her friends while being pursued by an ominous force.
1. The Journey To Ny

THE SORCERESS OF NY  
A Sailor Moon Fanfic  
Based on "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum  
By Bill K.   
Chapter 1: "The Journey To Ny"  
  
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Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2002 by Naoko Takeuchi/  
Kodansha and Toei Animation, and are used without permission, but   
with respect. "The Wizard of Oz", published in 1900 and written by   
L. Frank Baum, is a public domain work and is also used with respect.   
Story is (c) 2002 by Bill Kropfhauser. The tree spirits appear   
courtesy of the film "Princess Mononoke".  
  
As always, for those only familiar with the English dub:  
Usagi=Serena  
Ami=Amy  
Rei=Raye  
Makoto=Lyta  
Minako=Mina  
Haruka=Amara  
Michiru=Michelle  
Setsuna=Trista  
Mamoru=Darien  
Chibi-Usa=Rini  
Naru=Molly  
  
Ny=pronounced "N-Eye"  
  
Finally, Haruka and Michiru are NOT cousins.  
---------------------------------------------------------------------  
Minako rapped on the door to Rei's bedroom. "Rei? You in   
there?  
  
"Yeah, come on in," she heard Rei respond.  
  
"You got a minute?" Minako asked. "I've got something that's   
been bothering . . ." The blonde girl stopped, amazed at what she   
saw in the room.   
  
Inside the room with Rei were Ami and Makoto. Each girl looked   
at her, their expressions indicating their preoccupation and concern.  
  
"Well, I've heard the rumors about you two, but Rei was never   
involved," cracked Minako. Makoto bounced a pillow off her head.   
"Seriously, did I miss a meeting appointment?"  
  
"No," Ami replied. "We're all sensing something, but none of   
us can figure out just what. Is that why you're here?"  
  
"Yeah. Feels like someone's sitting on my shoulders and   
glaring at the back of my skull. It's creepy."  
  
"Does this sense of foreboding you get feel like it might be a   
threat to you," Rei asked pointedly, "or to Usagi?"  
  
"Now that you mention it," Minako replied. "I couldn't put my   
finger on it before, but that sounds just like what I'm feeling."  
  
"Same with us," Makoto told her.  
  
"Maybe it's because I'm more sensitive to that stuff, but I   
picked up on that aspect right away," Rei said.  
  
"But from what?" Makoto asked. "The feeling is so vague. It  
could be anything!"  
  
"Or maybe we're all just being paranoid," Minako shrugged.  
  
Just then they heard a knock on the door. "Come in," Rei said.  
  
"Rei, I've been getting these weird feelings," Usagi began as   
she entered. Luna was draped over her shoulder. "Oh! I'm sorry.   
Did I forget we had a meeting?"  
  
The other four looked at each other.  
  
"We're not being paranoid," Ami concluded.  
  
After comparing notes, Rei decided it might be a good idea to   
probe further into this. At her behest, the others changed into   
their senshi forms. Following the instructions of Sailor Mars, the   
senshi formed a circle and extended their right hands, one placed   
atop another with Mars' hand on top. Mars closed her eyes. Her face   
grew calm. She began to whisper an ancient chant.  
  
"Do you sense anything?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"I'm - - getting something," Mars said.  
  
"What? What do you see?"  
  
"Well if you'd be QUIET, maybe I could focus on it!" Mars   
snapped.  
  
"Grouch," muttered Sailor Moon.  
  
Mars returned to concentrating. "All I see is light. Light   
everywhere. Nothing else - - wait! I see eyes! They're beautiful,   
but they're . . ."  
  
In an instant, the peace of the room was shattered. A sudden   
whirlwind sprang up seemingly from nowhere and engulfed the five   
senshi before any of them could move. Venus tried to shout out her   
attack, but the loud whine of the whirlwind drowned her out. The   
senshi found themselves lifted off the ground and spun around the   
room helplessly by the powerful force. Sailor Moon's last memory   
before she blacked out was trying to reach out to Luna, to protect   
the small black cat from the buffeting winds by shielding her with   
her own body.  
* * * *  
"Sailor Moon?" Sailor Moon heard off in the distance. She felt   
something small pushing on her cheek. "Sailor Moon! Wake up!" the   
call came, more insistently, and she realized that it was Luna's   
voice she heard. Clawing her way with some effort up out of the inky   
hole of semi-consciousness she'd been in, Sailor Moon pried her eyes   
open and worked her way up off her back to a sitting position.  
  
"Oh, Luna," she groaned, her hand going to her head, "What   
happened? Where did that wind come . . ."  
  
Sailor Moon's words died in her throat. For the first time she   
was able to focus on her surroundings and what she saw was the last   
thing she expected to see.  
  
"Um, Sailor Moon," Luna whispered anxiously. "We're not   
alone."  
  
In the clearing of a gigantic forest, where they'd landed,   
Sailor Moon and Luna found themselves surrounded by thousands of   
little beings. They were roughly a foot tall, with child-like bodies   
colored a ghostly white. Atop their bodies were heads, if one could   
call them that, misshapen like potatoes, with three black holes that   
roughly formed eyes and a mouth. The throng peered at the two   
strangers with solemn curiosity.  
  
"GHOSTS!" shrieked Sailor Moon. She frantically scooped up   
Luna and crushed the cat to her breast. "OHMIGOD, Luna, don't let   
them get me! Protect me! You've got to protect me!"  
  
"Ghaak!" gasped Luna. "Sailor Moon! Get hold of yourself!   
They're not ghosts! And of the two of us, you're the one with the   
power to protect us! Now put me down!"  
  
"Then what are they?" asked Sailor Moon, staring at the little   
creatures with nervous curiosity.   
  
"They're probably tree spirits," Luna replied. "If you'd calm   
down and reach out with your mind, you'd probably sense it. And I   
don't think they mean us any harm. They seem to be just curious."  
  
Sailor Moon took in a deep breath and calmed her nerves. As   
she reached out, she sensed wispy thin tendrils reaching out toward   
her. Her mind touched the tendrils - - and she giggled.  
  
"Oh!" laughed Sailor Moon joyfully. "That tickles!" With her   
blue eyes wide and her smile ear to ear, Sailor Moon leaned forward   
in the grass onto her elbows. She gently neared one of the creatures   
and slowly extended her index finger. The creature waited passively,   
allowing her first to touch it, then to tickle it under its chin.   
"Oh, aren't you just the little cutie-pie!" The creature responded   
by raising its head, exposing more of its chin for Sailor Moon to   
tickle.  
  
"Sailor Moon," Luna gently nudged. "We need to find the   
others, or at the very least find out where we are."  
  
"That's right," Sailor Moon said, straightening up. She   
glanced around, but couldn't recognize the glade of trees she was in.   
For that matter, she couldn't recognize the trees as anything that   
was native to Earth. "Um, Luna, I don't think we're in Tokyo   
anymore."  
  
"Really, Sailor Moon?" deadpanned Luna. "What exactly was your   
first clue?"  
  
Sailor Moon responded with a loud raspberry. Luna was about to   
give a cutting retort when she noticed something.  
  
"Sailor Moon," she said. "What's that around your neck?"  
  
Sailor Moon looked down. Dangling from her neck on a chain of   
fine silver links was a silver pendant in the shape of a teardrop.   
Etched on the teardrop was a heart.  
  
"I don't know," Sailor Moon replied, cupping the pendant in her   
hand and examining it. "It's pretty, though. I wonder who it   
belongs to."   
  
"It belongs to you," she heard a melodious voice say from   
behind her.  
  
Sailor Moon spun around and saw a woman standing about twenty   
feet from her. She was a petite beauty with long hair of sunlight   
yellow that fell to her knees behind her and dangled in playful bangs   
over her forehead. Her eyes were bright blue and kind, her mouth   
small and red, and her skin soft and vibrant. She wore a choker of   
gold inch long rectangles held to her throat by a miniature replica   
of the sun. White arm length gloves covered her arms and a fine   
strapless gown clothed her. It fit tightly around the torso and was   
colored sunlight yellow, while a billowing white skirt flowed out   
underneath and touched the ground.  
  
"T-Thank you, Ma'am," Sailor Moon said, scrambling to her feet   
and bowing. "It's lovely. May I ask who you are?"  
  
"I am Princess Apollonia," she replied, her lips caressing   
every word with a velvet touch.  
  
"Very nice to meet you. I'm . . ."  
  
"You are known to me, Princess Serenity," Apollonia smiled.  
  
"Pardon my ignorance, please, but where am I?"  
  
"You are in the land of Ny."  
  
"I don't know that place. How did I get here? Do you know   
where my friends are?"  
  
"Where are your manners, girl? Don't you know better than to   
turn your back to royalty?" and again Sailor Moon turned to a voice   
behind her.  
  
Another woman stood behind her, this one a mere seven feet from   
the girl. She was tall and willowy, with hair black as the night   
cascading down her back like the veil of a wedding dress. Her eyes   
were deep violet, as were her lips, and violet shadow adorned her   
eyelids. Her cheekbones were high and her mouth round and   
seductively full, while her eyes pulled you in like quicksand. Onyx   
stones dangled from her ears and another was worn as a pendant on her   
bared chest. Black arm length gloves adorned her arms and her gown   
was black taffeta. Tight through the torso to reveal the lines of   
her figure and push up her cleavage, with spaghetti straps running   
over creamy shoulders, her skirt billowed out from her hips, the hem   
scraping the ground. Her skin was soft, but pale and against the   
black of her hair and gown almost milky white. Sailor Moon stared.   
The woman had a seductive quality which women as much as men couldn't   
help responding to, and yet it was a beauty that formed ice in the   
pit of the stomach.  
  
"W-Who are you?" whispered Sailor Moon.  
  
"I am Princess Nocturn," she said, her eyes never leaving   
Sailor Moon as she bowed slightly. She gave Sailor Moon a cold smile   
and the senshi swallowed.  
  
Sailor Moon glanced at the tree spirits. They all cowered from   
Princess Nocturn in abject terror.   
  
"What do you want?" Luna challenged, insinuating herself   
between Nocturn and Sailor Moon.  
  
"Begone, lowly creature," sniffed Nocturn imperiously.  
  
"Hey!" Sailor Moon protested. "You leave her alone!"  
  
"Does she amuse you, Princess?" Nocturn smiled cruelly. "Is   
this beast your court jester?"  
  
"She's my friend!"  
  
"How common," Nocturn replied dismissively. "Since you prove   
less than hospitable, I shall leave." She extended a gloved hand to   
Sailor Moon. "But first you must return the pendant to me."  
  
"This?" Sailor Moon asked, holding the pendant in her hand.  
  
"Do not listen to her, Princess Serenity," Apollonia said with   
serene confidence. "Shadows can play tricks."  
  
"You would do well to keep out of this, Apollonia," Nocturn   
warned. "The pendant! Give it to me!"  
  
"Why do you want it?" demanded Sailor Moon.  
  
"It belongs to me!"  
  
"But Apollonia said it was mine!"  
  
Impatiently, the dark beauty lunged at Sailor Moon. The senshi   
took two steps back, moving into the light, and avoided her. She   
moved to summon the Moon Tier.  
  
"Luna!" she gasped, glancing at the black cat. "I can't summon   
the Moon Tier!" Yet, Nocturn had halted her advance and stood   
glaring at Sailor Moon.  
  
"Be careful, Nocturn, lest your reach overextend your grasp,"   
Apollonia playfully warned.  
  
"Advice you would be wise to heed as well!" snapped Nocturn.   
She turned back to Sailor Moon and, with a withering glare, froze the   
girl in her tracks. "As for you - - I shall have what is mine!"  
  
With that, Princess Nocturn crossed her arms over her torso and   
brought them up over her head, drawing from nothing an impenetrable   
shadow over her. In a moment the shadow dissipated and the princess   
was gone.  
  
"Who was that?" gasped Sailor Moon.  
  
"Princess Nocturn rules all that is shadow on Ny," replied   
Princess Apollonia. "Her one consuming desire is to plunge the world   
into eternal shadow, so that she may rule over all."  
  
"And this pendant will help her?"  
  
"She believes this. Whether it is true, I cannot say. But you   
must never surrender it, Princess Serenity, for it is your only   
protection against Nocturn."  
  
"Oh, I wish I could just go home," Sailor Moon said glumly.   
With Nocturn gone, the tree spirits gathered around her. They seemed   
to be trying to soothe her. "Princess, do you know how I can get   
back to where I'm from?"  
  
"That I cannot tell you," Apollonia offered apologetically.  
  
"Well, I was with four other girls like me. Do you know where   
they might be?"  
  
"If they are on Ny, they may have already run afoul of Nocturn.   
Her shadows are everywhere," Apollonia said sadly.  
  
"Oh no," whimpered Sailor Moon.  
  
"There is one on Ny with great power. Seek out the Sorceress   
of Ny. She resides in the shrine atop that great hill," and   
Apollonia pointed out a great Shinto shrine atop a distant hill.  
  
"Oh, it's so far," groaned Sailor Moon. "You don't have a car,   
do you?"  
  
"A car?"  
  
"Never mind."  
  
"Though I cannot guide you there in person," she said,   
Apollonia made a sweeping gesture. A path through the dark forest   
was revealed when brilliant sunshine pushed through the dense   
foliage. "I can guide you in spirit. Follow the sunlit path. It   
shall guide you true to the temple door."  
  
"Thank you, Princess," smiled Sailor Moon. She turned to the   
tree spirits. "Thank you all for cheering me up! I wish I could   
take all of you home with me! Good-bye!" she waved. "Come on,   
Luna."  
  
"Be careful, Princess Serenity," warned Apollonia. "Nocturn   
will do whatever she feels necessary to get her way. She will not   
concern herself with the welfare of anyone else, including you. Stay   
upon the sunlit path. To venture off it is to venture into shadows   
and there you are most vulnerable to Nocturn's power."  
  
"I will," Sailor Moon waved as she and Luna walked down the   
path. "Thank you again!"  
  
continued in chapter 2 


	2. In Search of a Brain

THE SORCERESS OF NY  
based on the novel by L. Frank Baum  
Chapter 2: "In Search of a Brain"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"How much further?" whined Sailor Moon as she trudged down the   
sunlit path. "My feet are killing me!"  
  
"Oh, stop whining," groused Luna. "It hasn't been that long!"  
  
"It has, too! We must have walked a hundred miles!"  
  
"We've only been walking about twenty-five minutes. I'd say   
we've covered about one mile."  
  
"A MILE!" gasped Sailor Moon. She plopped down in the center   
of the path. "I've got to rest!"  
  
"You know if you wouldn't sleep until noon, you'd be in better   
shape."  
  
"And if you didn't know how to talk, you wouldn't nag so much!"   
pouted Sailor Moon.  
  
"Nag? Really! I'm giving you good advice! You know, Usagi,   
you cover more ground than this trolling the mall!"  
  
"Well I've got incentive there!"  
  
"Finding the other senshi and getting back home isn't   
incentive?" Luna asked pointedly.  
  
Sailor Moon hunched her shoulders and glared.  
  
"I hate it when you're right," she grumbled. Luna smirked.  
  
Climbing back up to her feet, Sailor Moon and Luna continued   
down the sunlit path. To the right was a dark, creepy forest; to the   
left was fields and farmland made ominous by the oppressive shadows   
draped over them. It made Sailor Moon uneasy and she tried to focus   
on the bright path ahead, but she found her gaze continually drifting   
back to it.  
  
"This whole place is creepy," Sailor Moon said.  
  
"I'll grant you that," Luna replied. "And this Princess   
Nocturn doesn't strike me as a very nice person, if you'll grant me a   
huge understatement. Still, I wonder what Princess Appolonia's   
interests in this are. Is she just being altruistic or does she have   
something to gain as well?"  
  
"I don't know about her being altruistic, but she's got a good   
heart. I can feel it."  
  
"Well I'll trust your instinct in that matter. And by the way,   
altruistic MEANS having a good heart."  
  
"Well I don't know! I don't speak English, remember?"  
  
"You would if you'd pay attention to your studies."  
  
"Luna, you're nagging again!" Sailor Moon said through gritted   
teeth.  
  
"Humph!" Luna responded.  
  
The pair continued on down the path, glancing nervously to the   
right and left. The occasional shadow that seemed to shift or move   
out of the corner of their eyes didn't help the nerves of either one   
of them.  
  
"Luna," Sailor Moon said as they continued walking. "Does it   
feel like we're being watched?"  
  
"I wouldn't doubt it," Luna replied. "That Princess Nocturn   
seemed quite intent on getting that pendant from you. She's likely   
to try again, so do be on guard."  
  
"I wonder what's so special about it. Do you think it's why I   
can't summon my Moon Tier?" There was no response. "Luna?"  
  
She turned back and saw Luna rooted to the path, listening   
intently.  
  
"Luna, what is it?"  
  
"Quiet, Sailor Moon," Luna whispered. She listened for a few   
moments more. "Do you hear that?"  
  
"Hear what?"  
  
"It sounds like someone moaning." Suddenly galvanized to   
action, Luna sprinted off down the path. "This way!"  
  
Sailor Moon sprinted off after her. They followed the path   
around a bend, then stopped short, staring in horror at the sight   
just ahead of them.  
  
In the midst of a dark and ominous field planted with some   
strange stalk for a crop was Sailor Mercury. She was bound to a   
wooden cross and dangled limply from the crossbar, in obvious pain.   
Flitting around her were black flying creatures that resembled bats   
but weren't quite. One would occasionally buzz Mercury and rake her   
with its feet or wings, drawing another distressed moan from the limp   
girl.  
  
"Ami-chan!" shrieked Sailor Moon.   
  
"Sailor Moon, stop!" Luna cried as Sailor Moon bolted for the   
shadowy field. She came to a halt just at the edge of the sunlit   
path. "It has to be a trap Nocturn has set for you!"  
  
"But we have to help Mercury!" Sailor Moon cried. She   
concentrated briefly. "And I still can't summon the Moon Tier!"  
  
"Use your tiara!" Luna said sharply. "It may still work!"  
  
Ripping her tiara from her head, Sailor Moon reached back and   
flung it at the dark creatures, shouting "Moon Tiara Action!" The   
tiara changed to an energy disk, arcing at impossible angles as it   
cut a swath through the creatures. Those that didn't explode into   
dust quickly retreated. Once its mission was accomplished, the tiara   
returned to its mistress. Sailor Moon looked impatiently at Luna for   
permission to venture into the shadowy field.  
  
"Very well," Luna concluded reluctantly. "But do be careful!"  
  
Sailor Moon nodded and quickly, but cautiously passed through   
the stalks toward Mercury. The withered leaves of the stalks seemed   
to clutch at her, but Sailor Moon suppressed her fear and pressed on.   
She reached Mercury and began undoing the knots on the ropes holding   
the girl to the wooden stake. Mercury lifted her head with   
difficulty and looked at her.  
  
"Thank you," she croaked, giving Sailor Moon a weak smile.   
Sailor Moon could see scratches on her face and arms and her heart   
broke.  
  
"I'll have you loose in a second," Sailor Moon choked out.  
  
"All right," Mercury nodded, then looked up at her blankly.   
"Who are you?" Sailor Moon stopped for a moment and stared in shock.  
  
"A-Ami-chan," Sailor Moon choked. "It's me! Sailor Moon!"   
The rope parted. Mercury took a hesitant step forward and staggered.   
Sailor Moon swooped over and caught her before she fell.  
  
"Ami-chan?" Mercury asked. "Is that my name?"  
  
"Don't you remember?"  
  
Mercury's brow furrowed. "I don't know. It's so hard to   
think. It's like I don't have a brain to think with."  
  
"Oh, Ami-chan!" sobbed Sailor Moon.  
  
"SAILOR MOON!" shrieked Luna. "Look out!"  
  
Sailor Moon whirled just in time to see Princess Nocturn   
stalking her from behind. Before she could react, Luna landed on   
Nocturn's face, claws out. The cat viciously slashed Nocturn,   
forcing the dark beauty to fall back. Pushing off of her, Luna   
followed Sailor Moon as she dragged Mercury back to the sunlit path.  
  
"You'll pay for that, Princess Serenity!" spat Nocturn angrily.   
"I only wanted the pendant before! Now I'll make you pay for siccing   
your beast on me!"  
  
"You should talk!" railed Sailor Moon, clutching Mercury   
protectively. "What did you do to her mind? How could you be so   
cruel?"  
  
"To see the anguish it gives you would be reason enough,"   
Nocturn smiled with evil glee. She wiped the blood away from the   
wounds on her cheek with her thumb and lapped at it.  
  
"You monster!" snapped Sailor Moon. "What have you done with   
my other friends?"  
  
Nocturn extended her black-gloved hand, the fingers long and   
pointed like the talons of an eagle. "Give me the pendant and I'll   
tell you."  
  
"Don't do it!" hissed Luna, her back arched. "She's lying! We   
must keep going!"  
  
"But Luna," Sailor Moon protested, clearly torn.  
  
"I'd sooner wager on getting help from this Sorceress of Ny.   
We shant get any help from Nocturn!"  
  
Convinced by Luna, Sailor Moon helped Sailor Mercury to her   
feet. When Mercury proves to be still wobbly on her feet, Sailor   
Moon braced the girl against her own body and supported her as they   
walked.   
  
"Very well, Princess Serenity," Nocturn scowled. "Let whatever   
fate they suffer be on your head."  
  
Luna saw the comment pierced Sailor Moon's heart. "Pay her no   
mind, Sailor Moon. You did the right thing."  
  
"I hope so," Sailor Moon said with a trembling voice. "Ami, do   
you remember anything?"  
  
"I'm sorry," Mercury replied contritely. "It's just so hard to   
think, after a while I just get tired of trying."  
  
"Boy, I know how that goes," muttered Sailor Moon.  
  
"Is your beast supposed to talk? I don't recall if they're   
supposed to or not."  
  
"Only very talented ones such as myself can talk," Luna said,   
ignoring Sailor Moon's disapproving glare. "Although in this realm   
it's hard to say. And I'd much prefer you call me 'Luna' and not   
'beast'."  
  
"I'm sorry," whispered Mercury. "If I were smarter, I'd know   
that."  
  
"Don't worry, Ami. We'll find a way to get you back. I   
promise," Sailor Moon said.  
  
After they walked a short distance down the path, Mercury   
seemed to gain enough strength and confidence in her legs to walk on   
her own. Relieved of her burden, Sailor Moon was able to take on a   
quicker pace, but she hung back, glancing nervously at Mercury in   
case she stumbled again. Luna, too, found herself glancing with   
concern at their hampered companion.  
  
"Sailor Mercury," Luna asked, "do you recall anything that   
happened to you before we found you?"  
  
Mercury kept walking, blissfully silent.  
  
"Sailor Mercury?"  
  
"Ami-chan?" asked Sailor Moon.  
  
"Hmm?" Mercury said, her attention caught. "I'm sorry, were   
you speaking to me?"  
  
"Well, yes," Luna replied incredulously.  
  
"Forgive me. I didn't realize it because you used that strange   
name instead of 'Ami-chan'."  
  
"That's your name," Luna said.  
  
"I thought it was 'Ami-chan'."  
  
"It is." Luna gasped out a sigh, then explained. "You have   
two names, because you have two identities. When you wear these   
clothes, you're Sailor Mercury. When you don't, you're Ami."  
  
Mercury's brow furrowed. "This is very confusing."  
  
"That's nothing," Sailor Moon assured her. "Luna goes out of   
her way to be confusing. I think she thinks it makes her seem   
smarter."  
  
"Sailor Moon! That is rank character assassination!" protested   
Luna.  
  
"It's not character whatsis if it's true!" Sailor Moon huffed,   
sticking out her tongue at Luna. "Don't forget, I know just how many   
headaches you've given me! Now stop confusing her!"  
  
"Perhaps we should talk instead about how many headaches you've   
given me?" Luna huffed back.  
  
"Please, don't fight on my account," whimpered Mercury. "It   
isn't Luna's fault that I can't keep up. I try, but I can't seem to   
do it. Someone as forceful and intelligent as you probably has no   
idea what it's like." Luna smothered a laugh and Sailor Moon shot   
her another glare. "But the fault is mine. I'm sorry for causing   
all of this trouble for you."   
  
"Don't concern yourself, Sailor Mercury. Perhaps when we talk   
to this Sorceress of Ny, she can lift the spell that's on you."  
  
"I have a spell on me?"  
  
"Well, yes!" Sailor Moon said.  
  
"I'm sorry. If I were smarter, I'd know that. What does it   
do?"  
  
Sailor Moon searched her mind for a delicate way to put it.   
"It, um, makes you stupid."  
  
"Deftly put," scowled Luna.  
  
"Are you saying I wasn't always stupid?" gasped Mercury.  
  
"No! Ami, you were the smartest person I ever met!" gasped   
Sailor Moon.  
  
"I thought my name was Sailor Mercury?" Luna emitted a grunt   
of frustration and swatted Sailor Moon on the heel.  
  
"You're right, Mercury," Sailor Moon grimaced. "That was my   
fault. But you were the smartest one of all of us! You could score   
higher on one test than I could score on three combined! And you   
knew everything!"  
  
"And this spell took that away?"  
  
Sailor Moon nodded.  
  
"And this Sorceress can make me smart again?"  
  
"It's worth a shot," smiled Sailor Moon. Mercury squared her   
shoulders in resolution.  
  
"Then let's go!" gasped Mercury excitedly. "We have to see   
this Sorceress today! Right now! I don't like being stupid!"  
  
Mercury spun on her heel, took a resolute step forward - - and   
promptly fell on her face. Sailor Moon and Luna both flew to her   
side.  
  
"Ami-chan - - um, Mercury! Are you hurt?" gasped Sailor Moon   
as she helped Mercury up to her knees.  
  
"No, I'm just shaken up a little," Mercury said contritely.  
  
"What happened?" Luna asked. "Did your legs get weak again?"  
  
"No, I," and Mercury blushed a deep red, "just forgot how to   
walk"  
  
Luna and Sailor Moon both sagged with mounting exasperation.  
  
Continued in Chapter 3 


	3. Lacking In Heart

THE SORCERESS OF NY,  
based on the novel by L. Frank Baum   
Chapter 3: "Lacking in Heart"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Luna continued down the sunlit   
path, headed toward the shrine of the Sorceress of Ny. With a little   
prompting from Sailor Moon, Mercury had recalled how to walk and was   
keeping a brisk pace - - too brisk for Sailor Moon.  
  
"Mercury," moaned Sailor Moon after a while. "Can we rest for   
a minute?"  
  
Mercury looked at her, puzzled. "I don't know," she replied.   
"Can we?"  
  
"We may as well," Luna replied sourly. "Otherwise we'll be   
subjected to her whining for the next half mile."  
  
"Luna, has anybody told you that you're not the least bit   
funny?" snapped Sailor Moon angrily.  
  
"What makes you think I was being funny?" Luna asked, her   
eyebrow arched.  
  
"Do you two fight like this a lot? I thought you were   
friends," Mercury asked. Sailor Moon blushed. She didn't think it   
possible, but it looked like Luna was blushing, too.  
  
After a short rest, they started down the path, but it wasn't   
long before their progress came grinding to a halt.  
  
Sailor Moon sighed. "I'm hungry."  
  
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Luna grimaced.  
  
"Oh, look!" Sailor Moon exclaimed, pointing to an orchard just   
outside of the sunlit path. "Apples!"  
  
"Are you certain?" Luna queried. "They don't look like any   
apples I've ever seen."  
  
Sailor Moon popped to her feet and scampered over to the   
orchard. Leaning against the rail fence, she reached up and was   
about to pluck one of the strange fruit. Then, to her surprise, a   
tree spirit rose up out of the limb. She stopped short and stared at   
it in wonder. The tree spirit gravely shook its head.  
  
"No?" Sailor Moon asked. "Aren't they any good?"  
  
The tree spirit shook its head, then pointed over Sailor Moon's   
shoulder. She turned and saw another fruit tree further down the   
path. One limb was sticking out over the path in the sunlight.  
  
"You mean only the fruit in the sunlight is safe?" she asked.   
The tree spirit bowed to her. "I'll remember. Thank you!" she   
beamed.   
  
Then she reached up and tickled the tree spirit under its chin.   
"Oh, you guys are just so cute!"  
  
Followed by Mercury and Luna, Sailor Moon walked down to the   
limb dangling over the path. She reached up and plucked three of the   
largest of the red fruit from the limb.  
  
"Thank you," she said sweetly, bowing respectfully to the tree.  
  
"You're welcome," the tree responded in a rough, sepulchral   
voice. Sailor Moon's eyes grew to saucers.  
  
"Um," she replied nervously, "I-I-I-I-I h-have to b-b-be   
g-going now. Bye!" And she tore down the path at supersonic speed.  
  
By the time Mercury and Luna caught up with her, she was a   
quarter mile down the path, leaning against a fence post and gasping   
for breath.  
  
"Did something scare you?" asked Mercury.  
  
"No!" Sailor Moon replied, much too quickly and in much too   
high a voice for her liking.  
  
"Oh. I'm sorry. I suppose I should have known that."  
  
Sailor Moon was about to explain, then thought better of it.   
Instead she handed Mercury a piece of fruit.  
  
"What's this for?" Mercury asked.  
  
"It's an apple - - I think. You eat it," Sailor Moon said,   
then demonstrated, taking a huge bite. "Like this."  
  
"I'm not sure my mouth can open that far," Mercury said   
doubtfully.  
  
"Most humans can't," Luna replied acidly. "But Sailor Moon is   
gifted with some unique talents."  
  
"You're just jealous," huffed Sailor Moon, downing the bite.   
"But they are good! Here, I even got one for you."  
  
"Well I do appreciate the sentiment, Sailor Moon," Luna   
replied, "but cats don't eat apples. Assuming that is an apple."  
  
"Oh yeah," Sailor Moon scowled, then brightened. "Oh well,   
I'll eat it." Luna glared at her.  
  
"This is very good," Mercury exclaimed. "Have I ever eaten   
apples before?"  
  
"Sure!" grinned Sailor Moon.  
  
"Well, at least there's one good thing about this spell. It's   
letting me experience the wonder of discovery all over again!"  
  
"I don't suppose there's a pond with some trout anywhere around   
here?" Luna grumbled.  
  
"Well knowing this place, the trout probably carry fishing   
poles and fish for cats," Sailor Moon said.  
  
"What a gruesome thought," Luna replied, visibly shaken.  
  
"Sure you don't want any of this apple?"  
  
Luna sighed. "I suppose it beats starving to death. But mind   
you, it'll never replace a properly cooked trout amandine." Sailor   
Moon handed Luna a piece of the fruit with a quizzical look and the   
cat reluctantly ate it.  
  
As they wandered down the sunlit path, munching on their fruit,   
Mercury glanced at Sailor Moon.  
  
"That's a very pretty stone you wear around your neck," Mercury   
commented.  
  
"Thanks," smiled Sailor Moon. "This is what that nasty   
Princess Nocturn is after."  
  
"Really? What does it do?"  
  
"Well nothing, so far. Maybe its only power is to negate hers.   
Maybe that's why she wants it, so nobody can stop her."  
  
"That's a very good deduction, Sailor Moon," Luna said. "I   
hadn't thought of that." Sailor Moon grinned proudly. "Come to   
think of it, she doesn't seem to be able to attack you directly so   
long as you wear it."  
  
"Maybe it negates everyone's powers. That would explain why I   
can't summon the Moon Tier."  
  
"But you were able to use Moon Tiara Action," cautioned Luna,   
"so I don't think that's quite the explanation." She glanced over at   
Mercury. "Sailor Mercury, do you recall anything about your time as   
Princess Nocturn's prisoner?"  
  
"No," Mercury said glumly. "I don't even remember how you and   
I met now."  
  
"You don't remember you were staked out in that awful field   
with those flying creatures attacking you?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"No," gasped Mercury. "Oh my, it must have been horrible!"  
  
Continuing down the path, they stopped when Mercury spotted   
something. She pointed at it.  
  
"Look!" she said in amazement. "Look at that poor woman in   
that clearing!"  
  
"Mako-chan!" gasped Sailor Moon in dismay.  
  
Standing away from the path, in a clearing near the forest,   
was Sailor Jupiter. She was surrounded by thick brambles with razor   
sharp points. As long as she stood perfectly still with her arms at   
her sides, there was just enough room between her and the brambles to   
keep from being harmed. Though she stood rigid within the brambles,   
the scratches on her arms and legs revealed that she hadn't been   
completely successful.   
  
She caught sight of her fellow senshi on the path, eyeing them   
nervously from the side because she didn't dare move her head, not   
even to speak.  
  
"What a terrible thing to happen!" gasped Mercury. "I wish I   
was smart enough to know what to do!"  
  
Then, growing out of a shadow that seemed to elongate from the   
ground, Princess Nocturn appeared. Sailor Moon was about to angrily   
charge her, but Luna cut in front of her and stopped her.  
  
"Let her go!" roared Sailor Moon.  
  
"You know my price, Princess," Nocturn hissed, glaring back at   
Sailor Moon.  
  
"You can't hurt me, so you can't threaten me!"  
  
"Perhaps not directly," Nocturn said. Then she stuck a finger   
through the brambles and lightly, teasingly caressed the underside of   
Jupiter's chin. Jupiter tried to flinch away, but all that got her   
was a cut on her cheek from the brambles.  
  
Sailor Moon stood there helplessly. Nocturn's implication was   
clear and there wasn't a thing she could do about it except give the   
woman what she wanted. However, Luna wasn't so helpless. She inched   
unseen behind Sailor Moon.  
  
"Mercury," Luna hissed quietly. Mercury looked down at her.   
"I want you to look at Princess Nocturn, then hold your right hand to   
your side, fingers spread, and say "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody."  
  
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Mercury repeated. The wave sprang up   
from nowhere and crashed headlong toward Princess Nocturn. Only the   
woman's keen agility allowed her to disappear back into her shadow.   
They waited for some sign of her return, but after a time concluded   
she had gone.   
  
"Well, that takes care of her for now. But we still have to   
rescue Jupiter." Luna looked up at Sailor Moon. "Do you think you   
have enough control with your tiara to cut those brambles away   
without harming Sailor Jupiter?" Luna asked.  
  
"Piece of cake," Sailor Moon replied.  
  
She pulled her tiara off and converted it into its energy disk   
form. With a level of skill and dexterity not usually associated   
with her, Sailor Moon whipped the disk at Sailor Jupiter. It sliced   
through the brambles, arcing back and forth with a life of its own.   
After ten passes, enough of the bush had been whittled down to allow   
Sailor Jupiter to gingerly step out. Instantly she whirled,   
searching the dark forest behind her as if expecting an attack. When   
none came, she backed out cautiously until she reached the sunlit   
path.  
  
"Mako-chan, you're hurt," cried Sailor Moon, rushing up to tend   
to her friend.  
  
"Boy, nothing gets past you!" Jupiter snarled. Using her   
superior strength, she viciously shoved Sailor Moon away.  
  
"Mako-chan?" Sailor Moon gaped in surprise. "Why are you   
acting this way?"  
  
"Because I want to," she snapped belligerently. "You want to   
make something of it, blondie?"  
  
"This isn't like you," Sailor Moon told her. "Why are you so   
angry?"  
  
"Why?" Jupiter glared. "What's being selfless gotten me?   
This!" and she held up her scratched arms. "Well I'm fed up! From   
now on, I look after me!"  
  
"But what about the team?" cried Sailor Moon.  
  
"The team can look after itself!" Jupiter began to walk off,   
callously turning her back on Sailor Moon.  
  
"Say!" Mercury spoke up indignantly. "She helped you out of a   
tight spot and you're not being very grateful!"  
  
"Oh, wild guess!" spat Jupiter, whirling menacingly to look at   
Mercury. "Want to know something else, dummy? I don't give a damn!   
Now you want to make something of it?"  
  
Mercury was about ready to charge in, but Sailor Moon   
restrained her.  
  
"Mercury, no," Sailor Moon pleaded. "Fighting never solved   
anything, particularly fighting with ourselves."  
  
"You're a sucker, Sailor Moon," sneered Jupiter, "and you   
always were!"  
  
Sailor Moon looked down, stung by the response.   
  
"This is Nocturn's doing," Luna whispered to her.  
  
"You think so?" Sailor Moon asked, daring to hope.  
  
"I'm sure of it. I'm beginning to see a pattern. It's as if   
Nocturn has managed to rob you all of your greatest gifts. You're   
missing the Moon Tier. Mercury's been robbed of her ability to   
think. And now she's taken Jupiter's good heart."  
  
"No," sobbed Sailor Moon.  
  
"What are you two whispering about?" Jupiter demanded, stomping   
up to them. "I thought I heard you say somebody took something from   
me?"  
  
"Your heart," Sailor Moon began.  
  
"- - shaped pendant!" Luna quickly added. "Made of solid   
gold."  
  
"What?" gasped Jupiter angrily. "Is it valuable?"  
  
"Oh, it's priceless!" Sailor Moon nodded.  
  
"Who took it?" Jupiter asked in a low snarl.  
  
"We think it was Princess Nocturn."  
  
"Nocturn? That little witch you were fighting just now?"   
Jupiter smacked a fist down into her open hand. "Well I'm just   
going to find her and I'm going to take back what's mine," and she   
glared off into the shadowy forest with a fierce look none of them   
could remember seeing before. "With interest."  
  
"Do you know where Princess Nocturn is?" Luna queried   
cautiously.  
  
"I'll find her."  
  
"You know," the cat smiled slyly. "We could offer you an   
easier solution."  
  
"I'm listening."  
  
"It's said that the Sorceress of Ny knows everything. We were   
all traveling to her shrine. You're welcome to accompany us if you   
like. Perhaps the Sorceress can give you Nocturn's exact location so   
you can - - settle accounts more expeditiously?  
  
"Uh huh. What do you get out of it?" Jupiter asked   
suspiciously.  
  
"Well, the more people in our party, the less likely we are to   
be attacked," reasoned Luna. "In spite of the protection of the   
sunlit path, this is still dangerous country. Protection in numbers,   
I say."  
  
Jupiter thought this proposal over.  
  
"All right," she replied. "I'll travel with you. But just   
remember, if we do get attacked, you three are on your own.   
Understand?"  
  
"Perfectly," Luna replied coldly.  
  
Jupiter turned and started walking down the path, unconcerned   
as to whether the others were following her. The three quickly fell   
in behind her.  
  
"That was smart thinking, Luna," Sailor Moon murmured to the   
cat.  
  
"Thank you," Luna replied, smirking proudly.  
  
"Where were we going again?" Mercury asked.  
  
"The shrine up on the hill," Sailor Moon pointed. Mercury   
craned her neck to see it above the dense forest.  
  
"My, we've got a long way to go yet," Mercury commented.  
  
"I hope we get there soon," Sailor Moon whispered. "I don't   
like what Mako-chan's become."  
  
"Ask me if I care," snapped Jupiter without turning around.  
  
"Sorry," Sailor Moon squeaked, flushing in embarrassment.  
  
Continued in Chapter 4 


	4. A Test Of Courage

THE SORCERESS OF NY  
based on the novel by L. Frank Baum  
Chapter 4: "A Test of Courage"  
  
By Bill K.   
  
Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Mercury, along with   
Luna, walked down the sunlit path, headed for the shrine where the   
Sorceress of Ny resided.  
  
It was becoming an arduous trek for Sailor Moon, but she didn't   
complain. She was afraid that Jupiter, bereft of her kind heart   
thanks to the spell on her, might smack her if she did.  
  
"Boy, it's been daylight an awful long time," muttered Sailor   
Moon. "Don't they have night in this place?"  
  
"A good question," Luna replied. "It's hard to say in this odd   
dimension. Since the two patrons of light and shadow seem to be at   
odds, perhaps there are parts that reside in eternal night and parts   
that reside in eternal day."  
  
"Well that's no fun! When would you sleep? And how would the   
people in the shadowy parts know when to get up?"  
  
"Who cares?" grunted Jupiter. Sailor Moon scowled.  
  
"Why were we going to the Sorceress again?" asked Mercury.  
  
"To find a way to get your ability to think back," smiled   
Sailor Moon. "And to get back Jupiter's heart for her."  
  
"Oh," Mercury said quietly, her brow furrowed as she tried to   
process this information. "That seems right. But why are you   
going?"  
  
"To find out where Mars and Venus are," Sailor Moon said, her   
voice small and her worried glance locked on the ground. "To find   
out if they're all right, and if they're not, to help them. And then   
I want to find a way so we can all go back home." She sniffed   
forlornly. "Because I miss it. I miss Mom and Dad, and even Shingo!   
I miss Artemis and Naru, and Haruka and Michiru and Setsuna! I miss   
the mall and the park and all of Tokyo - - even school!" She wiped a   
tear from her eyes. "But I miss Mamo-chan the most of all."  
  
"Who's Mamo-chan?" Mercury asked innocently.  
  
"My fiancee," Sailor Moon said, blushing slightly.  
  
"Oh." Sailor Mercury examined her hands. "I'm going to miss   
you when you go."  
  
"No, you're not," grinned Sailor Moon. "You're coming with me!   
You're from Tokyo, too!"  
  
"I am?"  
  
"Oh, we've got to get your mind back!" groaned Sailor Moon. "I   
hate being smarter than you! It's not right!"  
  
"Why are you so hot to get back to Tokyo?" grumbled Jupiter.   
"Why is it so much better there than here?"  
  
"Because it's where all my friends are," Sailor Moon replied.   
"It's where everything I love is."  
  
"You're too sentimental," Jupiter replied coldly. "You get   
hurt that way."  
  
"That's not what the old Jupiter would have said."  
  
"Well maybe the old Jupiter was a chump."  
  
"NO SHE WASN'T!" snapped Sailor Moon. Jupiter stopped and   
turned, angrily glaring at Sailor Moon.  
  
"Don't use that tone with me, girl," Jupiter warned.  
  
"Go ahead! Hit me!" Sailor Moon barked belligerently. "You   
can't shut me up that way! You may not want to hear it, but you were   
good and kind once! You loved life and you loved people! You lived   
to fall in love and you lived for your friends, and they loved you   
because of that!"  
  
"You're searching for something that isn't here anymore,"   
Jupiter replied gruffly.  
  
"Only because Nocturn stole it or hid it or did something with   
it! But you're still Mako-chan and you're still my friend and deep   
down somewhere inside you there's still some memory of what we all   
meant to each other!"  
  
"I remember," Jupiter said stonily.  
  
"You do?"  
  
"It's good for a laugh when I'm feeling down."  
  
Jupiter turned and callously walked up the sunlit path. Sailor   
Moon bowed her head and clamped her eyes shut, trying to trap the   
tears that were stinging her eyes. She felt soft hands on her   
shoulders and looked up. It was Mercury.  
  
"It'll be all right, Sailor Moon," Mercury offered   
sympathetically. "We just have to get to the Sorceress. She'll find   
a way to help your friend."  
  
"She's your friend, too," Sailor Moon squeaked. "But you don't   
even remember."  
  
"Sorry," Mercury offered lamely.  
  
"If I had my Moon Tier, I could make it right." She sighed in  
frustration. "Oh, maybe I should just give her this pendant and end   
all of this."  
  
"No, Sailor Moon, that's the last thing you should do," Luna   
said softly. "Because it's precisely what Nocturn wants. I know it   
looks grim now, but we can beat her. But we won't do it dallying   
about here."  
  
"Your beast makes a lot of sense," smiled Mercury.  
  
"Luna!" the cat corrected her impatiently.  
  
"Oh, right," Mercury grimaced, biting her lip.  
  
The quartet continued on a little ways. Jupiter had a large   
head start on them, but a quickened pace allowed the others to close   
the gap to within several yards. Luna closed the gap even further,   
drawing even with her.  
  
"Do you recall anything about your previous encounter with   
Princess Nocturn?" Luna asked.  
  
"Yeah." Luna waited expectantly for more, in vain.  
  
"Well would you please share it with us," Luna growled.  
  
Jupiter shrugged. "I woke up in that field. These small   
bat-like creatures were flying around the field. They attacked me.   
I was able to hold them off with my electrical power, but while I was   
distracted with them, she zapped me with some spell - - put me out   
for a little bit. At least I think it was her. She hit me from   
behind. It must have been when she stole my golden heart. When I   
woke up, I was surrounded by those brambles and couldn't move without   
hurting myself. But don't worry, I'll settle up with her." She   
glanced down impatiently at Luna. "Satisfied?"  
  
"Quite," Luna replied acidly.  
  
Just then the air was pierced by a blood-curdling scream of   
utter terror. Startled, both Luna and Jupiter turned to the sound   
and saw it was coming from a shadow-draped cave off to the side of   
the sunlit path. Suddenly Sailor Moon tore past them, sprinting at   
full speed for the cave.  
  
"Sailor Moon!" Luna called after her.  
  
"THAT WAS VENUS!" she cried over her shoulder as she headed for   
the cave.  
  
"It has to be a trap!" Luna shouted, but the warning didn't   
slow Sailor Moon down. Desperately she turned back and saw Mercury   
behind her. "Oh, come on! She's probably going to need our help!"  
  
Luna and Mercury raced after Sailor Moon. Jupiter stood on the   
path, staring contemptuously after them. By now Sailor Moon had   
disappeared into the mouth of the cave. Jupiter was about to walk  
on when a shadow passed across the cave and caught her eye.  
  
"Keep your eyes open for Nocturn," Luna warned Mercury.  
  
"Who?" Mercury asked blankly.  
  
Luna sighed in mounting vexation. "The darkly dressed woman  
with pale skin!" she snapped.  
  
Blindly Sailor Moon careened down the cave, led by the   
terrified screams of Sailor Venus. As she ran, all sorts of dire   
fates ran through her mind, lending speed to her feet. Turning left,   
she entered a small grotto inside the bowels of the cave. She   
stopped with a start.  
  
Pressed against the wall of the grotto was Sailor Venus. She   
was sitting on her hip, pushing with her legs like she was trying to   
push through solid stone in order to escape what terrified her. She   
wore a wild expression, her eyes wide and her mouth pulled back.   
Venus, who normally had the courage to face a charging rhino with a   
confident smirk, was a quivering, gurgling mass of hysteria. She   
looked as if she'd come face to face with the mouth of Hell itself.   
But Sailor Moon looked all around - - nothing was there.  
  
"Venus," gasped Sailor Moon, distressed by her friend's abject   
terror. "Mina-chan!"  
  
"Sailor Moon!" cried Venus. She dissolved into hysterical   
tears. "Please help me! Please! Don't let it get me! Please,   
don't let it get me!"  
  
"What? What is it?" pleaded Sailor Moon. She ran over to   
Venus and knelt down beside her. Venus lunged at her, clamping her   
arms around her friend's torso in a death grip fueled by fear.   
Sailor Moon, with some difficulty, pulled her arms up and brought   
them around Venus. "What's threatening you?"  
  
"T-T-That!" Venus nodded with her head, her eyes clamped shut   
for fear she might glimpse it again. Sailor Moon could feel Venus   
quaking in her arms. She scanned the area again.  
  
"I don't see anything!" she cried.  
  
"It's there, it's there!" Venus wailed.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"THERE!" Venus cried, tears streaming down her face. She   
jabbed out with a quivering finger to Sailor Moon's right. Sailor   
Moon followed the direction.  
  
Skittering along the stone and dirt floor was a beetle. And   
suddenly Sailor Moon knew.  
  
"Oh, Mina-chan," she sobbed, tears of her own flowing down her   
scrunched up face. "She took your courage, didn't she?" Sailor   
Venus huddled against the comforting warmth of Sailor Moon, her   
paranoid glance darting to and fro, anticipating attack from all   
sides.  
  
"AAAAAAAAHH!" screamed Venus suddenly. She lunged backwards   
and, since she still had Sailor Moon around the torso, her friend was   
pitched forward. As she fell, Sailor Moon twisted her head back to   
see what had scared Venus now. To her surprise and horror, it was   
Princess Nocturn. The mistress of shadow had crept up on them from   
behind, seeking the silver pendant. Only Venus and her hysterical   
fear had saved them.  
  
"You!" snapped Sailor Moon angrily.  
  
"Don't let her hurt me!" wailed Venus.  
  
"Don't be afraid, Venus," Sailor Moon growled maternally. "I   
won't let her hurt you!"  
  
"Give me the pendant!" hissed Nocturn.  
  
"No! Go away!" spat Sailor Moon. Nocturn's eyes turned to  
Venus.  
  
"You!" she pointed and Venus shrank away. "Take that silver   
pendant and give it to me or else I'll make you suffer!"  
  
"No, no, leave me alone, please!" sobbed Venus.  
  
"Don't listen to her!" Sailor Moon cried.  
  
"Do it or else!" bellowed Nocturn. Suddenly Sailor Moon felt   
a hand on her breast, closing around the pendant.  
  
By then, Luna and Mercury had reached the grotto. Luna turned   
quickly to Mercury.  
  
"Use your attack, quickly!" prodded Luna.  
  
"I," Mercury hesitated, stricken and afraid, "I don't remember   
how!"  
  
Just then, Mercury was shoved aside by Jupiter. She stood   
angrily ten yards from Nocturn, glaring at the woman with unconcealed   
malice.  
  
"You!" Jupiter roared. "Give me back my heart!" Nocturn   
turned, her hand coming up to point at Jupiter. "Jupiter! Oak   
Evolution!"   
  
Instantly powerful electrical bursts began exploding around   
Nocturn. She staggered backwards as Sailor Moon covered Venus with   
her own body.   
  
"Mercury!" snapped Luna. "Say 'Mercury Aqua Rhapsody'!"  
  
But before Mercury could comply, Princess Nocturn gestured to   
the ceiling and was enveloped in pitch-black shadow. When the shadow   
dissipated, she was gone.  
  
"Damn!" cursed Jupiter. "She got away!"  
  
The others ignored her, cautiously approaching Sailor Moon and   
Sailor Venus. Venus was huddled up in a fetal ball, clinging to   
Sailor Moon and crying hysterically. Sailor Moon hugged Venus to   
her, stroking the girl's long blonde hair and whispering soothing   
words through her own tears.  
  
"Come on!" urged Jupiter. "We need to go! We need to get to   
this Sorceress before that Princess Nocturn can get too far!"  
  
"She'll keep," Luna replied curtly, her attention focused on   
Venus and Sailor Moon. "So long as Sailor Moon is with us, Nocturn   
shant be far away."  
  
"How do you know?" Jupiter demanded impatiently. "She could be   
anywhere now, doing anything! We have to go!"  
  
"Oh, do be quiet!" snapped Luna, glaring at Jupiter. "I   
realize you're no longer able to care about other people, but at   
least have the common decency to be still long enough for Sailor Moon   
to get poor Venus calmed!"  
  
"She'll just slow us down! I say we leave her!"  
  
"And I'm not the least bit interested in your advice!" Luna   
said, turning dismissively from Jupiter. Jupiter glared, but before   
she could say or do anything else, Mercury stepped into her field of   
vision.  
  
"If you ask me, none of us can go up against Princess Nocturn   
by ourselves and win," Mercury said quietly. "Together, maybe we   
have a chance. And if this new one chooses to go with us, that makes   
us that much stronger and gives us that much more of a chance to beat   
Nocturn." Mercury smiled timidly. "Even I'm smart enough to realize   
that."  
  
Jupiter turned away. Mercury heard her mutter "fools", but she   
noticed the girl stayed.  
  
Continued in Chapter 5 


	5. The Shadow Of Desperation

THE SORCERESS OF NY  
based on the novel by L. Frank Baum  
Chapter 5: "The Shadow of Desperation"  
  
By Bill K.   
  
Jupiter waited impatiently at the mouth of the cave. Though   
she didn't have a watch, and wasn't sure there was even a concept   
like time in this odd dimension, she knew it had been a long time.   
More than once she had entertained the notion of just abandoning the   
others and seeking out Princess Nocturn or the Sorceress of Ny on her   
own. But, though she was loathe to admit it, Mercury's words about   
strength through working together did make sense.   
  
Right now, it looked like the best way she could see to achieve   
her goals. And right now, that was the only thing that mattered to   
her.  
  
A few minutes later, Jupiter turned to a sound coming from the   
cave. It was Mercury. The senshi had her arms folded over her   
breast and a concerned look coloring her features - - none of which   
mattered to Jupiter.  
  
"Are they about done in there?" Jupiter groused.  
  
"Yes," Mercury whispered. "It's very sad what happened to that   
girl."  
  
"Those are the breaks," shrugged Jupiter. "Man, we need to go!   
Nocturn could be half way to the center of the universe by now!"  
  
"The beast doesn't think so," countered Mercury. "The beast   
still thinks Princess Nocturn will attack Sailor Moon again."  
  
"I hope she's right," grimaced Jupiter.  
  
"Pardon me for asking," Mercury began apologetically. "Where   
were we going again?"  
  
Jupiter rolled her eyes in disgust and walked over to the   
sunlit path.  
  
After a time, Sailor Moon emerged from the cave, supporting   
Sailor Venus. Venus clung to her, timidly glancing around in the   
belief that some new terror was lurking just outside. Though the   
terror Venus felt was artificially induced, Sailor Moon and Luna   
could feel some trepidation themselves in the ominous shadows that   
covered the mouth of the cave and the surrounding area.  
  
"Y-You're sure nothing's out here?" whimpered Venus.  
  
"Nothing's going to hurt you, Venus," Sailor Moon said, trying   
to bury her own pain beneath a soothing mask. "I promise, you're   
safe with me. And you'll be even safer on the sunlit path."  
  
"Then let's go," Venus replied, biting her lip anxiously.   
"Let's get there quick, before something gets us!"  
  
"Yes, let's," muttered Jupiter.  
  
Finally the travelers resumed their journey. The shrine that   
housed the Sorceress of Ny loomed over them. It wasn't far now.  
  
"Venus," Luna asked as softly and as non-threateningly as   
possible, "do you recall anything about your confrontation with   
Princess Nocturn?"  
  
"Why do you keep asking that?" Sailor Moon demanded.  
  
"I'm trying to find something that could give us a clue to   
defeating her," Luna responded. Then she looked back at Venus.  
  
Sailor Venus began to breathe faster. Her lower lip quivered.   
It looked like she was trying to speak, but couldn't force her mouth   
to work properly. Finally in frustration she buried her head on   
Sailor Moon's shoulder and began crying.  
  
"It's all right," Sailor Moon whispered, gently patting Venus   
on the back of the head. "You don't have to tell us if it's too much   
for you. We understand. We can probably guess what happened   
anyway."  
  
"I'm sorry," Venus sobbed. "I-I didn't use to be this way. I   
used to be - - but now it's all gone! Oh, Sailor Moon, I'm so   
afraid! I don't want to live the rest of my life like this!" She   
clung that much tighter to Sailor Moon, pitifully sobbing on the   
girl's shoulder.  
  
"Oh, Mina-chan," Sailor Moon whimpered. Luna and the others   
looked over to her and saw the utter desolation in Sailor Moon's   
face.  
  
"So what's eating her?" scowled Jupiter.  
  
"You can't guess?" Luna asked reproachfully.  
  
"What is this, a quiz show?"  
  
"Search your memories. You must recall what Minako means to   
her? Sailor V was her hero! Usagi idolized her. It was the thrill   
of her life to finally meet and work with her. She even tried to   
pattern her early career after Sailor V." Luna gazed sympathetically   
at Sailor Moon. "And now to see her hero reduced to this - - it   
isn't the type of thing one endures easily."  
  
"Poor Sailor Moon," Mercury said. Jupiter merely scowled.  
  
By now the sobbing had eased to soft tears. Sailor Moon hugged   
Venus protectively to her as they walked. Despite having to support   
Venus both physically and emotionally, Sailor Moon kept moving   
doggedly down the path toward the shrine. Luna increased her pace to   
pull up along side of her.  
  
"We can rest if you like," Luna offered.   
  
"No," Sailor Moon replied cheerlessly. "I'm all right."  
  
Luna began several times to say something, but stopped every   
time. Finally she summoned enough strength to speak.  
  
"I-I don't know what words of advice I can offer you," Luna   
struggled to say. "I realize it looks bleak . . ."  
  
"We'll make it," Sailor Moon responded. "I won't let her do   
this to my friends."   
  
Luna stared at Sailor Moon. In all the time the cat had known   
her, she'd never seen such grim determination in her. Then she   
noticed cracks begin to show in the façade Sailor Moon presented.   
Tears were welling again and her eyes took on a haunted look.  
  
"What is it, Usagi?" Luna asked sympathetically.  
  
"I'm just scared - - worried about what she's done to Rei,"   
Sailor Moon squeaked.  
  
Sailor Moon felt Venus pull back. She turned and saw Venus was   
alarmed by something ahead. She looked and saw only the limbs of   
trees extending into the light of the sunlit path.  
  
"Venus, what is it?" she asked.  
  
"T-They're going to get us," Venus whispered fearfully.  
  
"Mina-chan, they're just tree limbs. They can't hurt you."   
Then Sailor Moon recalled her earlier encounter with the tree. "Just   
- - don't speak to them."  
  
They continued to walk along the path and Luna noticed Sailor   
Moon's struggle to keep her composure.  
  
"Courage, Usagi," Luna said. "We'll make it."  
  
"Um hmm," Sailor Moon nodded, but it was clear she didn't   
really believe it.  
  
"Mmmmmmmmmmmmm," came from Venus and Sailor Moon felt the   
girl's grip on her tighten.   
  
Shaken from her depression, Sailor Moon looked up, trying to   
see what threatened Venus now. Her eyes popped. Lining the path on   
both sides were tree spirits. They waved at her and stared with   
their odd faces, almost like they sensed her distress and were trying   
to cheer her up. Luna glanced from them to Sailor Moon and saw the   
corners of the girl's mouth begin to curl. It made Luna smile, too,   
for nothing was more infectious than Sailor Moon's smile.  
  
"It's all right, Venus," Sailor Moon said gently. "They won't   
hurt us."  
  
"A-Are you sure?" whimpered Venus.  
  
"Yes. Open your heart, Mina-chan. You'll feel their love."   
She waved at the tree spirits. "Thank you again. You've all just   
been too kind to me."  
  
Though their expressions were unreadable, Luna sensed the   
spirits were pleased.  
  
"Hey, it's the foot of the hill!" Jupiter shouted, pointing   
ahead.   
  
The group all looked. It was the foot of the hill. Carved   
into the hill were steps that led up to the hill. At the top sat the   
shrine.  
  
"All those steps," marveled Mercury. "There must be billions   
- - hundreds even!"  
  
"Um, yes, Mercury, something like that," Luna replied, shaking   
her head in confusion.  
  
"Well, let's get climbing," Sailor Moon said with surprising   
determination. She started for the steps, but Venus held back.   
"Mina-chan?" she asked.  
  
"B-B-But it's s-so high," Venus gaped fearfully. Instantly she   
felt Sailor Moon's reassuring arms around her.  
  
"I won't let you fall," Sailor Moon said, smiling reassuringly   
at her. "Please believe in me, Venus."  
  
Venus shut her eyes, gritted her teeth and began panting   
briskly. Finally she summoned enough strength to nod her head.   
Sailor Moon patted her on the back and led her to the steps.  
  
As one they all heard the dull flap of leathery wings. Looking   
up, the group saw a huge bat-like creature swooping down on them.   
Venus let out a shriek of terror and threw herself to the ground.   
Jupiter crouched, ready to defend herself and no one else. Mercury   
stood and watched, confused and helpless.  
  
Sailor Moon only had a moment to react and, when the taloned   
feet of the creature seized her by the shoulders and whisked her off   
the ground and into the air, even that moment was gone. She allowed   
a small cry of surprise escape, but didn't scream. She realized it   
would do no good and would only further terrify Venus.  
  
"Jupiter!" yelled Luna. "Try to shoot it down with your   
lightning!"  
  
But Jupiter only shrugged and ignored her as the bat creature   
carried Sailor Moon up and away. Luna glared daggers at Jupiter, but   
the senshi seemed unconcerned.  
  
"You craven, cowardly. . ." Luna began, but stopped in   
frustration. "Well, come on! We must keep that thing in sight!"  
  
Mercury started to follow. Venus, however, was curled up in a   
ball and quivering helplessly and Jupiter still stood there,   
unconcerned.  
  
"Come along!" Luna demanded.  
  
"Why?" Jupiter asked.  
  
"Who in bloody Hell do you think sent that creature?" spat   
Luna. "Princess Nocturn!"  
  
"Nocturn?" Jupiter responded angrily.  
  
"Yes! And I know you don't care a whit about Sailor Moon, but   
I thought you still cared about your golden heart!"  
  
Jupiter let out a frustrated sigh, then took off after Sailor   
Moon and her captor. The senshi easily outdistanced Sailor Mercury   
and Luna.  
  
"What about - - um, the blonde girl?" asked Mercury as she ran.  
  
"We'll have to leave her and just pray nothing attacks her,"   
Luna replied. "Jupiter's already proven she's no match for Nocturn,   
so Sailor Moon's the one in immediate danger!"  
  
High over the shadow-draped countryside, Sailor Moon struggled   
in the grip of the bat creature. Although to break the grip of the   
creature would mean a potentially deadly fall, Sailor Moon still   
fought to get free. She was completely at the creature's mercy,   
since the talons pressing into her shoulders kept her from raising   
her arms high enough to reach her only weapon, her tiara.  
  
So preoccupied was she in breaking the creature's grip that   
Sailor Moon failed to notice that she and the creature were losing   
altitude at an alarming clip. The bat creature emitted a shrill   
noise that sounded almost like a wounded cry as it struggled to   
remain aloft. The struggle went on for a few more beats of its   
leathery wings, then it expended its last bit of energy and fell.   
The creature nose-dived into the ground from about twenty-five feet   
up, sending Sailor Moon helplessly sprawling across the ground from   
her momentum. She rolled to a stop and lay there, stunned from the   
bone-jarring impact. Finally she gathered enough strength and enough   
wits to struggle up to her elbows.  
  
The hem of a billowy black skirt was inches from her face.   
Sailor Moon craned her neck as she brought her vision up. Standing   
before her, looking down upon her with cold malice, was Princess   
Nocturn.  
  
"I'm so glad my creature managed to get you this far before   
dying," Nocturn said mirthlessly. Sailor Moon glanced over at where   
the creature had crashed. The huge bat creature had disintegrated   
into hundreds of the smaller bat creatures she had earlier seen   
menacing Mercury. They fluttered impotently on the ground for a few   
beats, then became still. "It was a calculated risk to send it into   
the light, but it served its purpose."  
  
"How can you be so cruel?" Sailor Moon asked irritably.  
  
"Great rewards require great risks," Nocturn replied. She bent   
down, looming over Sailor Moon. "Now, girl, give me that pendant."  
  
Though it hurt, Sailor Moon scrambled up into a sitting   
position and inched away from Nocturn's grasp. The woman followed   
her, though, looming over her the entire time.  
  
"Don't think you'll escape me," she hissed. "We have things to   
settle, and we settle accounts now!"  
  
"You can't touch me," Sailor Moon said with defiance she didn't   
feel. "You would have taken the pendant from me if you could have.   
You've had plenty of chances. So just go away and leave me and my   
friends alone!"  
  
With those words, inspiration sparkled in the pale woman's dark   
eyes and Sailor Moon realized once again that she'd let her mouth   
out-distance her brain.  
  
"Perhaps I am prevented from touching you," Nocturn smiled with   
evil intent. "But we both know I'm not prevented from touching the   
others you care so much for. Do you want to see them die in agony,   
Princess Serenity?"  
  
"You leave them alone!" bellowed Sailor Moon.   
  
"I'm desperate, Princess, and you're the one who has driven me   
to that point! I warned you that their fate would be on your head!   
Well their time has run out! What will it be, Princess Serenity?   
The pendant or their lives?"  
  
concluded in Chapter 6 


	6. Mastermind

THE SORCERESS OF NY  
based on the novel by L. Frank Baum  
Chapter 6: "Mastermind"  
  
By Bill K.  
  
"Well, Princess Serenity?" Princess Nocturn said, hovering   
ominously over the prone and defenseless Sailor Moon. "My patience   
runs short! Give me the pendant or I take my retribution out on your   
companions!"  
  
The anguish shone clear and bright on Sailor Moon's face. She   
knew she didn't dare give the pendant over. Luna had warned her not   
to do so and she trusted Luna to be right. And she didn't trust the   
shadow princess to keep her word.  
  
But she just couldn't bring herself to risk her friends. It   
was the same as always. Other enemies had used this Achilles Heel   
against her before; now it was happening again. She hated herself   
for her weakness. And she knew her friends hated her for her   
weakness, though they would never say so - - except Rei.  
  
But none of them understood just how deep was the trauma of   
what she'd experienced that time at D-Point of the North Pole. The   
absolute horror of watching her friends die one by one in terrific   
agony, alone in a frozen and desolate wasteland, had been so painful   
for her to endure. She didn't want to experience it the first time  
- - and she'd endured it twice, the second time against Galaxia, and   
it had almost done her in then. She just couldn't bear to go through   
that again.  
  
With tears stinging her eyes, Sailor Moon reached up. Her hand   
closed around the silver pendant around her neck. Slowly she lifted   
the pendant chain above her head.  
  
"Jupiter!" Jupiter's voice boomed over the clearing. "Oak   
Evolution!"  
  
As the powerful electrical bursts exploded around them, Nocturn   
lunged for the pendant. Sailor Moon managed to duck out of the way   
of both Nocturn and the electric blasts in time.  
  
Pivoting to deal with the attack, Princess Nocturn raised her   
hands up above her head, as if conducting a symphony. Jupiter gasped   
in alarm as shadowy tendrils rose from the ground and snaked around   
her feet and ankles. Jupiter struggled to pull free as the tendrils   
slithered up her legs.  
  
"MAKO-CHAN!" screeched Sailor Moon.  
  
The tentacles began pulling Jupiter down into the soil. The   
mighty girl resisted with every ounce of strength available to her,   
but she had no leverage and nothing to grasp onto. She could not   
halt her slow descent into the ground.  
  
"Moon Tiara Action!" Sailor Moon cried desperately, flinging   
her tiara at the tentacles. But the energy disk passed harmlessly   
through them as if they were nothing but shadows. By now Luna and   
Sailor Mercury had arrived. The cat spotted Nocturn turning on   
Sailor Moon again.  
  
"Mercury!" shouted Luna. "Drop your hand to your side and yell   
'Mercury Aqua Rhapsody'!"  
  
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" yelled Mercury.  
  
A wave of water engulfed Princess Nocturn. She clutched at her   
throat in panic, deprived of oxygen. Then she contracted into a fetal   
ball as an inky shadow surrounded her. When the shadow disappeared,   
Nocturn was gone.  
  
"Did-Did I kill her?" Mercury gaped in confusion.  
  
"Come on!" Sailor Moon called. "We still have to help   
Jupiter!"  
  
But as Sailor Moon ran for Jupiter, she was stopped by a giant   
shadow that rose up before her. Two hands lunged from the shadow and   
clutched Sailor Moon around the throat.  
  
"Give me the pendant!" growled Nocturn, revealed when the   
shadow dissipated. "I will not be defeated! I will not see   
Apollonia victorious! If any are to rule over Ny, it will be me!"  
  
The woman shook Sailor Moon as she choked her. Feeling her   
brain rattling in her skull, Sailor Moon grasped her attacker by the   
forearms and tried to pull them off. She could feel the knotted   
sinews under the long black gloves. They felt like steel cable.  
  
Then she heard Nocturn shriek and opened her eyes to see what   
had happened. Luna had jumped on her head again, claws out.   
However, a violent shake of the head threw Luna off her. The act   
horrified Sailor Moon, but not as much as what else she saw.   
  
Nocturn's pale beauty was slipping away. Every second she   
stayed in contact with Sailor Moon, she began to age and wither. The   
woman's pale face and supple arms began to line and age years before   
the girl's eyes. And as she withered, her grip loosened on Sailor   
Moon's throat.  
  
Finally Sailor Moon managed to shove Nocturn away. The shadow   
princess staggered backwards, ultimately losing her balance. The   
woman tumbled to the ground and came to a stop in a patch of   
sunlight. She had just enough time to throw a hand up over her face   
and look up at the sun before Princess Nocturn burst into flame.  
  
"Mercury! Help her!" cried Sailor Moon. Mercury seemed   
perplexed for a moment.  
  
"Um, Mercury Aqua Rhapsody?" she guessed, unsure if she   
correctly recalled the power phrase she'd used moments ago.  
  
The flames extinguished the moment the wave hit. But it was   
too late. Princess Nocturn's body exploded into soggy ash upon   
impact with the water and coated the ground as it subsided.  
  
"What a way to die," Sailor Moon said mournfully.  
  
"Good riddance," sneered Jupiter. With Nocturn gone, the   
shadow tendrils had dissipated and she was pulling herself out of the   
ground.  
  
Sailor Moon looked at her, puzzled. She turned to Luna.  
  
"I don't understand," Sailor Moon said. "If Princess Nocturn's   
- - you know - - shouldn't they be back to normal?"  
  
"You're asking me?" Luna replied. "I'm not an expert on   
magic!"  
  
"Well maybe we should ask an expert on magic," Mercury   
suggested.  
  
"Quite right, and I'll wager Venus is still cowering at the   
steps to the Sorceress's shrine," Luna added. "Perhaps it would be   
prudent if we collected her."  
  
As they neared the steps to the shrine, the group could see   
Venus huddled next to the steps. The blonde nervously peeked up at   
them. When she saw Sailor Moon, she jumped up and ran to her,   
wrapping her arms tightly around the girl.  
  
"Oh, Sailor Moon!" Venus wailed. "I was so scared that   
something happened to you!" Venus began to cry uncontrollably.   
  
"It's all right, Mina-chan," Sailor Moon whispered, patting her   
back. "I'm back and I'm safe."  
  
"And-and I was so frightened something was going to attack me!"   
Venus continued. "I-I was all alone and I heard noises! It was   
awful!"  
  
"Nothing attacked you. You're fine," Sailor Moon reassured her   
while Jupiter impatiently rolled her eyes. "Now let's just climb up   
the stairs and see the Sorceress so we can undo Nocturn's spell."  
  
Venus took a timid step forward, then pulled back.  
  
"No! I-It's too high! Please!" whimpered Venus, clinging to   
Sailor Moon. "Please don't make me climb those stairs! It's too   
high! It's scary!"  
  
While Venus was protesting, Jupiter crept silently up behind   
Venus and Sailor Moon. Crouching down, she inched closer and closer   
until she was directly behind them.  
  
"GET UP THE STAIRS!" she bellowed as loudly and as fiercely as   
she could. Venus shrieked in terror and raced up the stairs, as   
Sailor Moon squealed in surprise and flopped forward, landing on the   
first step. Picking herself up, she looked up and found Venus   
cowering twenty-five steps up, quaking in terror. "Don't make me   
come and get you," warned Jupiter as she ascended step four. They   
all saw Venus's eyes grow to saucers and she quickly scrambled up the   
steps on her hands and knees.  
  
"Mako-chan!" Sailor Moon said remonstratively. Jupiter ignored   
her.  
  
"Oh, come along, Sailor Moon," Luna sighed as she leaped up to   
the second step. "As detestable as Jupiter's way is, it seems to be   
the quickest way to get poor Venus up there."  
  
Sailor Moon's lower lip pushed out. Petulantly she grabbed   
Mercury's hand and climbed the stairs after them.  
  
Once they were at the top, Sailor Moon pushed passed Jupiter   
and knelt beside the cowering Venus.  
  
"It's all right, Venus," Sailor Moon whispered. "No one's   
going to hurt you now. Please try to calm down."  
  
"B-B-But Jupiter was going to," Venus stammered out. Her arms   
still covered her head protectively.  
  
"Jupiter won't touch you," Sailor Moon said. "I promise!"  
  
"Don't make promises you can't keep," Jupiter muttered. Sailor   
Moon shot her an angry glare.  
  
Once Venus was coaxed to her feet, the four girls and one cat   
ventured to the shrine door. Jupiter was prepared to force it, but   
it opened with ease. She strode arrogantly into the inner chamber of   
the shrine, the others following behind her. Mercury looked around   
in wonder, while Venus searched for any signs of imminent danger.  
  
Suddenly a great flame erupted from the center of the room. It   
shot up thirty-five feet into the air, the tip of the flame touching   
the high ceiling of the room. The body of the flame burned brightly,   
a brilliant red flecked with fleeting streaks of yellow. Venus fell   
to the floor and hid her face, curling up into a protective ball.   
The others fell back until they realized that no heat came from the   
flame.  
  
"Who disturbs the Sorceress of Ny?" came a voice from the   
flame. It was low and seductive, a voice that spoke to them from a   
higher plane of consciousness, a voice that looked down on them as   
lesser creatures not from arrogance, but from simple fact.  
  
"You don't frighten me!" bellowed Jupiter belligerently. "Give   
me back my golden heart!"  
  
"Be gone, low creature," the voice replied disdainfully. "The   
Sorceress of Ny does not brook threatens from lesser beings."  
  
"I'll show you how much of a 'lesser being' I am!" snarled   
Jupiter.   
  
Sailor Moon saw the lightning rod extend from Jupiter's tiara.   
Sighing in frustration, she abandoned her spot beside Sailor Venus   
and purposefully walked over to Jupiter.  
  
"Jupiter," Sailor Moon said impatiently, grasping Jupiter by   
her upper arms. "Please stop." It was not a request.  
  
Before Jupiter could protest, Sailor Moon turned to the flame.  
  
"Forgive her, please. She's under a spell. In fact all my   
friends are under spells. That's why we've come."  
  
"I sense power in you," the flame replied. "I sense that which   
places you above the others. I am willing to hear you."  
  
Sailor Moon stared for the longest time at the flame. Luna   
gasped in amazement, for it was hardly the time for Usagi to zone   
out.  
  
"Your voice," Sailor Moon said at last and Luna realized that   
she hadn't zoned out at all. "There's something familiar about your   
voice."  
  
"Indeed?" mused Luna. "Perhaps this bears investigating."   
Quietly she eased away from the others and began searching the room.  
  
"That is no concern of mine," the voice replied. "State your   
business or go."  
  
"Oh, yes! Forgive me," Sailor Moon said, shaking herself.   
"It's my friends. They've had their greatest facet taken from them   
by an evil woman named Princess Nocturn."  
  
"Then it would behoove you to go to Princess Nocturn and get   
her to restore what she took," replied the flame.  
  
"Yes, well," Sailor Moon faltered, looking down in   
embarrassment. "We can't."  
  
"Do you fear Princess Nocturn?"  
  
"No. Well, not much. You see, she attacked us and, well, she   
died."  
  
The flame seemed to expand and grow brighter.  
  
"She is dead?" the flame asked.  
  
"Yes. Were you friends with her?"  
  
"Sailor Moon!" Luna called out suddenly. Sailor Moon searched   
the room until she spotted the cat by an opened door on the far side   
of the room. "Come here, quickly!"  
  
"Pay no attention to the creature!" roared the flame.  
  
Initially torn between obeying Luna and respecting the   
Sorceress, her curiosity finally won out and she raced over to Luna.   
Following the cat into the room, Sailor Moon found an incredible   
sight.  
  
Inside the brightly-lit room was a pillar that seemed to be   
made of pure sunlight. It stood in the exact center of the room.   
Painted on the walls of the room were runes of an unknown language.   
One of the characters seemed to resemble the sun. But Sailor Moon's   
eyes locked onto a single sight. Strapped to the pillar with cords   
of spun gold, her hands above her head, was Sailor Mars. Her eyes   
were jammed shut and her head tossed weakly from side to side, as if   
the pillar were drawing the very life from her.  
  
"Rei-chan!" Sailor Moon howled. She lurched forward, only to   
be stopped by Mars' hoarse, whispered voice.  
  
"U-Usagi," Mars gasped. "Stay away. Too dangerous."  
  
"Let her go!" Sailor Moon wailed, turning and looking up at   
nothing in particular. "Please let her go! You're hurting her!"  
  
"Princess Serenity," rumbled the voice, even more ominous and   
intense in this room. "On your honor as royalty, do you swear that   
you speak the truth? Is Princess Nocturn dead?"  
  
"Yes, yes! Now let her go!"  
  
Like magic, the cords unraveled. Freed of their grip, Sailor   
Mars slumped to the floor in exhaustion. Sailor Moon raced to her   
side and let the girl's head rest in her lap.  
  
"Rei-chan," Sailor Moon whispered urgently, gently stroking the   
girl's face. "Are you all right?"  
  
Mars looked up to her and smiled weakly. "It's about time you   
got here."  
  
"You ungrateful thing," Sailor Moon grinned meekly.  
  
"I knew it!" hissed Luna. Sailor Moon looked up from tending   
to Mars and found Princess Apollonia standing before her. The woman   
smiled as sweetly and as innocently as before.  
  
"Well," the princess said pleasantly, "it looks as if you've   
found me out."  
  
"I don't understand," Sailor Moon said. "Where's the Sorceress   
of Ny?"  
  
"There is no sorceress," Mars whispered weakly.  
  
"Of that you are mistaken, my lady," Apollonia said sweetly.   
"You are the Sorceress of Ny - - after a fact." She twittered a   
delicate little laugh.  
  
"What?" Sailor Moon asked, confused.  
  
"She was draining my psychic energy," Mars gasped out. "Using   
it to manufacture the mystical signature of this fictional Sorceress   
of Ny as a front."  
  
"Why?" Sailor Moon asked, staring at Apollonia with a look of   
betrayal.  
  
"It was necessary, in case Princess Nocturn gained your pendant   
and managed to harness its power. She most surely would have struck   
at me. I had to shield myself." Apollonia smiled sweetly.  
  
"Perhaps you'd care to explain just what this has all been   
about?" Luna asked pointedly. She felt emboldened to confront   
Apollonia, for Mercury, Venus and Jupiter stood in the doorway,   
listening.  
  
"Very well," Apollonia said graciously. "For a long time,   
Princess Nocturn had been gathering strength and allies to eventually   
move against me and plunge Ny into eternal darkness."  
  
"So you moved to stop her," Luna replied.  
  
"Yes. For I was aware of the existence of Princess Serenity in   
your dimension. And I was aware of the great and powerful crystal   
she possesses."  
  
"So she brought us all to Ny," Mars interjected.  
  
"Indeed," smiled Apollonia. "For I knew that once Princess   
Nocturn sensed the power of your crystal, she could not resist it."  
  
"But you also knew she couldn't safely control Sailor Moon's   
power," Mars said, staring accusingly.  
  
"Yes," Apollonia admitted, still smiling as if butter couldn't   
melt in her mouth. "I knew I could ill afford a protracted battle   
with Princess Nocturn, for win or lose I would be quite weakened.   
But I knew Princess Nocturn would destroy herself with her lust and   
impatience for victory if I gave her the opportunity." And Apollonia   
continued to smile innocently.  
  
"That's . . ." gasped Sailor Moon, "that's horrible!"  
  
"No more horrible than what you did," Apollonia responded   
gently. "She died by your hand, and yet it was self-defense and her   
own avarice that did her in. I, too, was merely acting in   
self-defense."  
  
"And the senshi?" Luna asked, dissecting Apollonia with her   
eyes. "Nocturn didn't cast those spells on them, did she? You did."  
  
"It's true," Apollonia admitted, looking like a naughty little   
girl.  
  
"You did this?" Sailor Moon cried, appalled.  
  
"Yes, Princess. It was necessary, so you would play your part.   
You were needed to bait Princess Nocturn into her rash act."  
  
"How cold-bloodedly calculating you are," Luna remarked.  
  
"What about my friends?" snapped Sailor Moon. "Change them   
back!"  
  
"Change them back yourself. You possess the power. You always   
have."  
  
"But - - I can't summon the Moon Tier! I've tried!"  
  
"Well this is Ny, not your world. Your power crystal has taken   
a different form in this dimension."  
  
Sailor Moon gaped in confusion. Then she glanced down at the   
silver pendant with the heart-shaped etching hanging from her neck.  
  
"Precisely," smiled Princess Apollonia. Then her hand flew to   
her mouth and poorly concealed her smirk. "Did I forget to tell you   
that? I do apologize."  
  
"So what happens now?" Luna asked warily.  
  
"I shall spread my influence over all of Ny," she said grandly.   
"And all the inhabitants will know an abundance of light and I shall   
bask in their praise and good wishes."  
  
"And what of those who don't wish to partake of your glorious   
realm of eternal light?" Luna pointed out. "Those who allied   
themselves with Nocturn, for instance?"  
  
"They will adapt," smiled Apollonia. "What other choice will   
they have?"  
  
"Unless we stop you," Sailor Moon said, rising to her feet.  
  
"Princess Serenity," Apollonia replied gently. "Would you   
expend precious time and energy in battle with me when you could be   
curing your friends and taking them home? I seem to recall those   
were your most fervent wishes."  
  
"Oh, you're good," Mars glared.  
  
Sailor Moon looked down, torn by conflicting emotions. And in   
that moment of indecision, Apollonia jabbed her hands into the air.   
The room was flooded with a blinding light.  
* * * *  
"Hold still, Mina-chan!" groused Sailor Moon. She was pointing   
the Moon Tier at Sailor Venus, who cowered in terror from it. "It's   
not going to hurt you! I promise!"  
  
"Stop yelling at me!" Venus sobbed. They, Luna and the other   
senshi were all back in Rei's bedroom in the shrine, as if they had   
never left.  
  
"So how are you doing, Ami?" Jupiter asked timidly.  
  
"It feels like a steel box has been removed from around my   
brain," Mercury sighed. "Oh, it feels so good to be me again! How   
about you?"  
  
"I'm back," Jupiter whispered contritely. "And I'm feeling   
really bad about the way I treated you guys."  
  
"Don't," grinned Mercury. "We all know you weren't yourself.   
I'll consider the matter closed - - just as long as nobody uses me   
and the word 'stupid' in the same sentence ever again."  
  
"Thanks," Jupiter smiled shyly. "But study group's at my place   
tomorrow and don't be surprised if there's a great big plate of   
pastry waiting for all of you." She glanced at Luna. "And a great   
big can of tuna if you want to stop by."  
  
"Hmm," Luna said, her ears perking up. "I accept," and she   
licked her whiskers.  
  
"Are you all right now?" Sailor Moon asked Venus.  
  
"Yeah," Venus sighed gratefully. "Oh man, I NEVER want to go   
through anything like that again! I'm going to be having nightmares   
about this for months! Thanks, Usagi." Venus ran her fingers   
through her hair, then suddenly sat bolt upright. "NOBODY says   
ANYTHING to Artemis about this!"  
  
"I can be convinced," Mars said, smirking, "for a price."  
  
"Rei-chan!" admonished Sailor Moon.  
  
"Oh, I'm just kidding," Mars responded, then glanced at Venus.   
"Partly."  
  
"Man, that Princess Apollonia was a real piece of work, wasn't   
she?" Makoto said, allowing her Sailor Jupiter form to fade.  
  
"She sure had me fooled," Usagi commented.  
  
"First grade level riddles have you fooled," needled Rei.  
  
"Shut up, Rei! Really, I'm worried about the people of Ny - -   
especially those cute little tree spirits. How are they going to get   
along under her rule?"  
  
"I don't know," Ami shrugged. "But too much of anything, even   
eternal light, can't be a good thing."  
  
"Yeah," nodded Rei. "Life's usually best when opposing   
elements are balanced in harmony - - yin and yang, you know? When   
one side gains too much power, it rarely works out."  
  
"Yeah," Usagi added. "Like how would you know when to go to   
sleep in a place that had eternal day?"  
  
Luna rolled her eyes. "Only you would think of something like   
that!"  
  
"You know what I mean!" Usagi replied petulantly.  
  
"Well if it bothers you that much, we should go back and set   
things right," Minako suggested. "That is our job, after all."  
  
"That's fine as far as it goes," Rei replied, "but how do we   
get there? Apollonia brought us to Ny and she sent us back."  
  
Minako looked at Usagi.  
  
"Don't look at me," Usagi replied. "I barely know the way   
home."  
  
"Well, there are going to be things that are beyond us," Ami   
said. "I suppose this is one of those things."  
  
The group slumped dejectedly as one.  
  
"Well this bites," muttered Minako.   
  
THE END 


End file.
